Troubled Waters
by LittleHummus
Summary: ctOS 2.0 was not exclusive to San Francisco, in fact it encompassed a large majority of American cities. Wade Waters is a self-taught Miami hacker who is only a year removed from high school but knows the ins and outs of ctOS. A bright and talented kid, he can solve many problems, but he cannot solve getting out from beneath the thumb of the mob. M for language and violence.


Day: May 5'th 2017

Time: 2:00 AM

Location: Miami-Dade County

The driver didn't say much. None of them did. They got their orders and carried them out, same as everyone. There was a man in the back seat of the van as well; he smoked a cigarette and released the occasional cough. A quiet night zooming down Miami streets – a dream – but not on this night. I had a job to do.

The driver slowed down and entered a gas station parking lot. He makes a scissoring motion with his fingers, signaling he wants me to blackout the security cameras. I pull my phone from the pocket of my black jeans and turn it on, a blue light forming a halo around my face. With three taps across the screen, all security cameras within a one hundred yard radius are deactivated, as well as the last five minutes of film deleted. _Piece of cake_.

The man in the back seat nods, leans forward, and pulls something from his coat: a suppressed pistol. He turns it around and offers me the grip. I shake my head and he shrugs. With that, I exit the vehicle and start towards my place of business for the night: an !NViTE data center. Out of nerve, I open my phone and read over my notes again.

 _Five guards, four armed, three cameras, one security terminal, one file. Easy enough, right?_

The van takes off and so I use that as my que. Show time. I throw on my gray hood, pull up my face mask, and sprint towards the staircase on the eastern side, sliding and crouching against it. I see a security camera; it faces west. A few taps on my phone screen and through the camera I can see two guards chatting on the rooftop. Quietly, I hop over the railing and creep my way up the stairs.

"Shit man. Soon my little girl's gonna be out of Kindergarten. Can you believe that?" The right guard says. They both face away from me, their eyes overlooking the parking lot on the northern side.

"They grow up so freaking fast. They always say it but it's true. Got two kids in college and one in high school." Left guard replies.

"Ever think bout having another?"

In my messenger bag is an extendable shock baton I purchased after a close encounter last mission. I decide now is as good a time as any to test it out.

"My wife did, and she decided no. Making me get a vasectomy this summer."

"Damn. Sucks, man."

I zoom in on Right Guard from my phone and tap on him. A menu pops up with his profile – name, occupation, income, notable traits – and his weaknesses. Not like kryptonite or anything of that sort, but vulnerable technology on his person. I could rapidly overheat his phone until it combusts, I could make his phone vibrate aggressively, I could even forge fake evidence to warrant his arrest. I choose, though, to emit a high pitched and painful ringing through his earpiece; a simple but effective tactic.

"Yeah, don't know whether I should actually be excited for summer or- WHAT IN THE HELL!?"

Right Guard keels over and curls into a ball, all the while groaning loudly. Left Guard doesn't know what to do, so he places his hand on his pistol. In their confusion, I draw my stungun and zap Left Guard. _Thud_. I then slide in with my shock baton and hit Right Guard on his forehead, successfully subduing him. I stand and look at my two unconscious adversaries. _Sorry guys. Maybe someday I'll find you again in a different context and I'll buy drinks. How's that sound?_

Sliding my baton back in place and pulling my phone, I switch tabs and pull up a map of the building. There's a roof entrance on the western side and I creep ever so slowly towards it. It's a decently sized skylight with a hatch on the inside. Lucky for me the mechanism that opens and closes the window is connected to ctOS. It's open within seconds and I slide in without making too much noise. With my stungun poised before me, my eyes dart around the room. _All clear_.

There are three levels to the complex. Currently, I am on the second floor, but the file I need is in the basement. Quickly but quietly, I make my way there. I find two guards on the first floor but have no problem hitting them with my stungun and baton. Normal thieves fear security cameras, but I see them as guardian angels, granting me eyes wherever I need them and keeping me out of the grasp of those who wish to do me harm.

Eventually I find the staircase leading to the basement and take a deep breath. _The last guard is down there somewhere_. I hack into the basement camera but cannot see the guard anywhere. There are no blind spots, the camera's view encompasses the entire data center. I double check from my memory that I subdued four guards and not five, before going into the basement to check for myself. Nothing. I hop from camera to camera in search of the missing guard but I find nothing, and so I loosen my shoulders, chalk it up to faulty data, and begin wirelessly extracting the file I need from the database to my phone. At about fifty percent completion, I hear steps behind me. I turn around with my stungun ready, but I'm too late. It's knocked from my hand. Something cold and metallic is pressed against my chest and I'm shoved against the computers. Looking down, I see it's a gun

"Hands up, asshole!" A female voice says. "You Dedsec? One of those data thieves?"

 _How in the hell did I not see her? I have eyes all over this facility and the fifth security guard finds me first_. I put my hands in the air and she reaches for my arm. Luckily for me, this isn't my first rodeo. With my left hand I shove her pistol arm away, a shot ringing out and a bullet planting itself in the floor. With my right hand I deliver a hard punch to her left cheek, sending her back a few feet, before extending my baton and giving her a good shock on the thigh. She convulses and hits the ground with a thud, still twitching some five seconds later. It was quite the ugly scene.

"Sorry," I utter to the unconscious woman. "I guess that's all I can say. We're just two poor devils bound by obligation, doing as we're told. I didn't want to punch you, yet I did. I didn't want to shock you, yet I did. So sorry."

A vibration distracts me from my thoughts. The download is complete. I collect my stungun and step over her body as I exit the basement and then the facility. A pair of headlights shine on me and soon our white van disguised as a ctOS van pulls into the parking lot. The passenger door opens before the car stops and the car starts before I'm barely in and able to close the door. The man in the backseat leans forward and shows me a timer.

"9:56:53. Did good, kid." He says as I lower my mask and hood.

 _Almost ten minutes? It felt like forty-five minutes at least_.

"Run into any trouble?" He asks.

"Nothing I couldn't handle." I reply in a monotone voice.

The Backseat Man scoffs. "And you had no trouble in getting the file?"

I nod.

"What was on it?"

"I'm not authorized to-"

"I'm fuckin with you."

And so not a word is said the rest of the ride and I relax in the passenger seat, watching the colors pass by and pretending I'm not in a vehicle with gangsters. Who the hell am I kidding, I guess I now qualify as a gangster with all the work I've carried out for them. Do I get points for doing what I do only to repay a debt? Do I get points for carrying out operations non-lethaly? Do I get points for hating myself for what I've let myself become?

The driver pulls over next to a bus stop and holds out a gloved hand, signaling to turn over the phone. I oblige and get out of the van, taking time to watch it speed away until it fades into the horizon, and then into nothing. I turn and walk home.


End file.
